20+ in 24: buyer's remorse & what i bought in july

what i wish i'd just put back on the (proverbial) shelf

hello! how are you?

me? i’m okay. this post is late because it turns out applying for jobs is exhausting, and it’s hard for me to balance everything in spite of my time-blocking my calendar.

i’m working on a bunch of cool new posts that i’m really excited for, but in the meantime, i wanted to review everything i bought this year—including my July purchases—and sum up my regrets and wins.

So, what do i regret buying this year? Let’s reflect! Giddyup! And i’m arbitrarily assigning points to things!

1. CD player

In January, I bought a really nice, modern CD player. It works with bluetooth, it’s rechargeable, it’s great. But even with that, I haven’t been using it as much as I thought I would. I have plans to crochet a case for it, but I haven’t done that yet, and the size of it makes it tricky to carry around.

I have CDs, but I just listen to them on a larger radio CD player that stays at home. I don’t know if this is a total regret, so we’ll say 3/5 regret points. (January)

2. My “book beau” pillow

This, similarly, is like 3/5 regret points, because I do use it, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. It’s adorable, but it’s been so hot the last three months I absolutely will not place a pillow on my body for extra heat. Also, my dog wants to eat it constantly because it looks like a toy, so I have to keep it out of reach for her, but then I also forget where I put it… oops! (February)

3. A glittery fanny pack

I bought this fanny pack on a really great bike ride with some friends. Endorphins were high, I was excited, and I was in a kind of low-key “gathering” of hundreds of cyclists by accident (to prep for a big NYC bike ride I wasn’t doing, but my friends were) and I got caught up in it all. I bought this fanny pack. In some ways, it’s great—it’s large, it’s comfy, it’s adorable.

On top of that, Manhattan Portage is a small, NYC-founded brand, and I love that. Their bags are really sturdy, well-made, long-lasting, and also simple in their design, which I love.

But, and this is a regrettable but, it turned out to be more glittery than I thought. I thought the fabric itself was metallic.

In fact, to the chagrin of all of my other clothes, and any part of my body that comes into contact with the bag, its glitter is slightly moveable in the way that glitter comes off, sticks to you, and lives with you until they put you in the ground. I didn’t know! If I’d known, I think I would have perhaps bought a different one or none at all. 1.5/5 regret points. (May)

Total regret points: 6.5! That’s not terrible, honestly. I feel like in previous years, it would have been way higher.

tips/tricks i’ve used to help avoid buyer’s remorse

I attribute this partially to being underemployed for six months, which has forced me to really be up close and intimate with my budget. It doesn’t mean I’m not spending money, but it takes a lot for me to buy something that feels totally ridiculous or unnecessary.

Also, I’ve been pretty hobby focused. Cooking, biking, traveling to go hiking, reading, and working out take up a lot of time. This means less time for buying things I don’t need or imagining things I could buy.

I deleted my personal Instagram, so the ads targeted toward me are all via my dog’s Instagram account (I know, I know), which means when I am on it, I’m getting ads for dog things I would never buy Smudge.

Lastly, I still try to stick to my 30-day waiting period or, if I’m feeling not super determined, at least a week or two. This means I usually only buy things I keep going back to, thinking about, or noticing a consistent need for or interest in. When I started the 30 day waiting period in 2023, it felt really difficult to abide by and pretty unnatural. Now, I’m used to it and it’s more habit.

what i bought in july

In June, I officially hit my 20 items. In July, I did a little bit of travel with the intention of going to a concert in a nearby state. The concert was an allowed purchase from months ago, but it ended up getting cancelled last minute and refunded.

(The concert venue offered that we could watch the last-minute headlining show for free, so I ended up watching a metal band from West Virginia for thirty minutes before leaving. Metal is not for me, but I’m glad I gave it a try.)

Often while traveling, I’m susceptible to impulse purchases or “oh what the hell” moments, especially if I find myself somewhere I haven’t been or might not be back in for a while. But on this trip, that didn’t really happen. And I gave myself permission, even—I went to a gift shop, which was nice, but nothing felt right for me or as a gift for anyone I love.

You might be thinking, “Okay, Aviv, but you didn’t buy anything?”

I did buy one thing. This. I love it, I’m not sorry.

Everyone Watches Women’s Sports t-shirt collaboration between the Valkyries Fanatics Shop and TOGETHXR

Total: 21/20

allowed purchases:

• Gym membership - My partner and I joined a gym, which has been great. I grew up going to the gym with my mom, and I had a gym membership until 2021, when I was too freaked out to work out near anyone within a twenty-foot radius. With the climate change-fueled heat wave in New York, though, biking and exercising in our apartment (which doesn’t have central AC or a very big AC window unit) has been borderline impossible for much of July—and as late as the last week, when the weather finally cooled (due, also, to climate change with the hurricanes and tropical storms from the south giving us a ton of rain).

  As someone who is susceptible to heat-induced migraines (and has gotten a few this summer from exercising in high temperatures), it’s been really nice to have a place to lift weights heavier than my 10 lb. dumbbells at home. I’ve also gotten to do workout classes with my partner, which is fun!

• Workout clothes - I live in an apartment without a washer/dryer, and I do laundry weekly, but I needed a few more pairs of workout clothes to get me through the week. I looked on Postmark and Vinted, but I couldn’t find things that met my needs, so I resulted to a few pairs of things on sale. I’m on a budget, but I also keep my workout/synthetic clothes for a long time, and I tend to hand wash (or wash on cold) and air dry the items to preserve their lifespan and elasticity.

• Sofi Tukker concert tickets - This band was a pandemic fave, and their music is fun, silly, and dance-y. Normally, I would never see a band like this but I kept seeing signs (literal signs) that they were coming to town, and a friend and I decided to go together. It’ll be a fun time, I bet!

• One ebook - I bought one ebook (They Can’t Kill Us Till They Kill Us: Expanded Edition) and had some credits, so only spent $5 on it.

things i did that aren’t buying

• Start reading Moby Dick for my book club

• I’ve been cooking! a lot! The last couple of weeks, I’ve made 1-2 big batches of something to have throughout the week.

  • Chocolate chip chickpea flour banana bread

  • Zucchini boats

  • Sweet corn risotto

  • Salmon teriyaki — I learned how to make my own teriyaki sauce for this recipe (and not like a fancy version, because I don’t have sake at home normally) and I was shocked at how easy this was. I recommend this recipe by culinary genius/legend J. Kenji López-Alt.

  • Making smoothies basically every damn day

• Playing a lot of Hit Me Hard and Soft on the radio/CD player

• Listening to lots of podcasts

• Watching my new wind-down reality show, “Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship!” It sounds trashy, which is why I picked it, but it’s not actually as ridiculous and shocking as it sounds. Plus, I’m not a big fashion person, but queer icon and host Rahne Jones is so sweet and serves lots of looks.

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Any podcast, book, or movie recommendations? Send them my way! x - Aviv